DON TIKI'S HOT LAVA HOLIDAY SHOW Comes to Los Angeles Tonight

Honolulu's legendary Don Tiki - the collaborative of stellar musicians, vocalists and dancers that reinvented the jungle jazzy sounds of exotica - brings a bit of sunshine and family-friendly fun to the season with the first-ever Los Angeles performance of Don Tiki's Hot Lava Holiday Show, tonight, December 20 at 8:00 PM at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

The creative collaboration of producer Lloyd Kandell and band leader Kit Ebersbach, Don Tiki draws inspiration from the original Mid-Century masters of the exotica sound including Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman and Les Baxter. Denny gave the band his seal of approval when he played on their 1997 debut album, The Forbidden Sounds of Don Tiki.

For their one-night-only Los Angeles appearance the band will be performing signature tunes such as "The Natives Are Restless" and "An Occasional Man" from all four of Don Tiki's releases, The Forbidden Sounds of Don Tiki, Skinny Dip with Don Tiki, Don Tiki Adulterated - The Remix Project, and their latest release, South of the Boudoir, which won The Hawaii Music Awards' Adult Contemporary Album of the Year.

"We'll drop six new holiday songs to get into the spirit of things," says producer Lloyd "Fluid Floyd" Kandell. Band leader Kit "Perry Coma" Ebersbach adds, "We were asked to add tiki holiday songs to our holiday show, and, as such a thing doesn't exist, it was my challenge to compose some new Christmas songs as well as do some exotica arrangements of traditional holiday tunes for our singers and musicians to perform."

Don Tiki has played everywhere from local tiki dives to the Honolulu Symphony to Waikiki showrooms to glitzy Las Vegas palaces to headliners at a summer music festival in Berlin and Tiki Oasis in San Diego. When they appeared on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, the food impresario came away raving, "Tiki supergroup Don Tiki knows the world, the subculture of tiki...it really doesn't get much better than this!"

Comprised of Hawaii's top musicians, the Don Tiki troupe consists of band leader and composer, Kit "Perry Coma" Ebersbach on keyboards; bassist and purring song stylist Hai-Jung; Charles Degala and Tei Tatafu, Jr. on virile vocals; vocalist, dancer and comedienne Sherry Shaoling; percussionist Lopaka Colón, who continues his illustrious father Augie Colón's jungle and bird call tradition; tenor ace Tim Mayer on reeds; multi-talented Abe Lagrimas, Jr. on vibes and percussion; tribal drummer Jason Segler; space-age Ryoko Oka on keyboards and t'rung (a Vietnamese bamboo xylophone); exotic dancer Violetta Beretta; plus special guest artist Frank Orrall of Thievery Corporation and Poi Dog Pondering. Don Tiki is also honored to bring to the stage special guest artists, legendary SOCAL tiki-shaman Crazy Al, rising Brazillian star Tita Lima and Brazil's golden tambourine, Carlinhos de Oliveira.

The concert is a tribute to the memory of Delmar deWilde (aka Fritz Hasenpusch), Don Tiki's front man, who passed away this year while hiking the Stairway to Heaven trail in Honolulu.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, under the vibrant leadership of Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, presents an inspiring array of music from all genres - orchestral, chamber and Baroque music, organ and celebrity recitals, new music, jazz, world music and pop - at two of L.A.'s iconic venues, Walt Disney Concert Hall (www.laphil.com) and the Hollywood Bowl (www.hollywoodbowl.com). The LA Phil's season at Walt Disney Concert Hall extends from October through May, and throughout the summer at the Hollywood Bowl. With the preeminent Los Angeles Philharmonic at the foundation of its offerings, the LA Phil aims to enrich and transform lives through music, with a robust mix of artistic, education and community programs.

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